Menu:Alun Ward: welcome, summary of things, invitations to speak and Adobe news. (10-15 mins)Pine cone audio – a short presentation on how to make cut up pine cones, stick speakers inside them, and make them sing. An insight into part of the process of creating work for an audio installation. (15 mins)

Video-designer Dariusz Dziala – talk on making an animated DNA chain using After Effects CS6 Ray-traced 3D engine. The animation is a part of the design he made for “The Softening of MAO-A” performance, which was shown during the Edinburgh Fringe this year. The Ray traced 3d engine is a new feature in After effects, and for people who use AE on a daily basis, they will be pleased with this for sure! (around 30mins)

…and as one of our occasional escapes from computers!

Introduction to make-up effects with Ani Dee. Ani is a professional make-up artist and SFX designer working in TV and Film, anything from ageing effects, a gashed cheek or rabid zombie. She will be talking about her work and giving a demo. (around 30mins)

2) “Demystifying the camera” with Dariusz which will show how cameras are built, how they work, all the vocabulary related to the subject – both in the real world and in software applications (i.e. After Effects). There are a number of plugins in AE, Photoshop which use camera features (motion blur, lens blur, distortions etc.)

3) Alun’s Android App – Part Two

4) Peter Jones: What’s slitscan good for?

I will describe my personal journey into developing an effect I called Timemorphing and how I eventually discovered it was a form of slitscan. By using After Effects I will describe how to create a slitscan and show a variety of different effects that can be achieved. Than looking at the weird world of slitscan we will then discuss What’s slitscan good for.

A good turnout to the meeting last night – thanks all for turning out and not even receiving an Adobe pen in return!

Dariusz led us off with a demo of some apps for use by filmmakers, mostly for his swanky Samsung phone which even connects to the project, ooh.

This led on to the news of Adobe’s new Touch Apps family, mostly concerned with tablet use where you can really use your finger to paint, prototype etc. Adobe’s catching up here a bit, as there are plenty of sketching tools around, most notably for me Autodesk’s fantastic Sketchbook Mobile. Get it!

A brief mention of Adobe Edge – After Effects edging into the world of HTML/CSS ! Download the prerelease free now.

Alun then talked through his experiences trying to get an app going for Android. Notes to this, with links to most of the software and help mentioned are now up on Google Docs. Warning – this is very shorthand! This was part One of a series, next month I’ll be back with a bit more on how to make your HTML/CSS (Hybrid) App take advantage of the device. I like taking advantage of devices.

Richard Roaf then finished us off with a great talk on using cameras within After Effects for some neat effects. Here are the links to videos he demoed.

1. A look at the newly released Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 with Alun & Glenn. What’s new in Dreamweaver, Fireworks, In Design plus a quick scan of Flash updates, and did somebody say Audition? This release is all about mobile and devices.

3. Raffle! Yes, come along for your chance to win $2,100 worth of Adobe software. The more times you’ve attended one of our group meetings, the more chance you have of winning the prize. This prize buys you a copy of one of the bundles – CS5.5 Production Premium etc.

Oh, and another thing:

4. There’s still time to come forward with your offering for our Adventures in Meat Space in June. 10 to 15 minutes of fame presenting your gorgeous digital / real world project. Are you working in dance, performance, art or music and crossing the borders into digital? Tell us what you’re up to, or even better, just show us and let us all chat about it afterwards. Everyone who performs or talks gets an extra credit in the next software giveaway.